Diving’s World Cup was contested during four-and-a-half weeks in Mexico, Canada, and China this spring, followed by the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore two months later. Even though the World Aquatics season wrapped in early August, some of the major moments were indelible. Here’s a look back at six from Singapore and one World Cup breakthrough from April.
2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore
Men’s 10m Cassiel Rousseau of Australia proved that his monumental victory in 10m at the 2023 world championship in Fukuoka, Japan, wasn’t a one-off. Just as in 2023, the Singapore final was a smackdown. In the very last round, the judges released a string of 90-plus scores to heighten the intensity, and when it was over, Rousseau was a two-time world champion with a personal best 534.80 points. For the first time since 1982, China wasn’t on the podium. "It's unexpected, really, to do this twice," Rousseau said.
Men’s 3m Osmar Olvera Ibarra’s victory in men’s 3m wasn’t just a major personal achievement for the 21-year-old springboard specialist, but it also marked Mexico’s third world championship gold medal in diving history – in any event. Olvera Ibarra was also responsible for Mexico’s last world title, on 1m at Doha 2024. (The only other Mexican diver to win a world title was Paola Espinosa, in Rome in 2009 on women’s 10m.) Olvera Ibarra would leave Singapore as the most decorated medalist of the 2025 world championships (with one gold and three silvers).
Women’s 10m 19-year-old Chen Yuxi of China had a perfect season on women’s 10m. After winning all three World Cup contests in April and May, the two-time Olympic silver medalist claimed her fourth individual world championship gold medal. In Singapore, Chen earned all 9.0s and 9.5s on her last three dives, with only two exceptions. “When I saw the score,” Chen said, “I was in disbelief. It’s not easy to score 430. I haven’t been in the best condition after the Olympics, so…winning this event here has really increased my level of confidence.”
Women’s 3m Chen Yiwen overcame motivational hurdles after winning two gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics to prove that she remains a 3m legend. “Training wasn’t good for a very long time after the Paris Olympics,” Chen told World Aquatics in April. “My mental fortitude relaxed a lot.” Yet she won her third world title on 3m and helped China claim a grand total of 9 golds, 3 silvers, and four bronzes in Singapore. Chen was also one of two divers to win triple gold in Singapore. (The other was her countrywoman Chen Yuxi.)
Women’s 1m Maddison Keeney of Australia closed an eight-year gap between her world championship titles on the 1m event to tie Tom Daley of Great Britain for the longest drought between claiming individual world titles in diving.
Women’s 3m synchro Twins Lia and Mia Cueva Lobato of Mexico captured the world championship bronze medal at just 14 years, 6 months, 28 days old to become the youngest diving medalists at the 2025 World Championships. They also took second at their World Cup debut in Guadalajara, Mexico, in April, and fourth at the World Cup Super Final in May.
2025 World Cup Breakthrough
Men’s 3m At the second stop of the 2025 World Cup, in Windsor, Canada, in April, Jordan Houlden of Great Britain even surprised himself when he defeated three-time world champion Wang Zongyuan and Jiuyuan Zheng to win the men’s 3m springboard event. “I thought I'd place around like fourth to eighth, nothing too extravagant,” Houlden said. (Houlden finished fifth at the 2024 Paris Olympics.) “But when the two Chinese messed up a little bit, it definitely pushed me. It also gave me some shakes.” Shaken, maybe, but also stirring.
Next: The world’s best divers will return to action soon in the 2026 new year. World Cup 1 will be in Montreal, Canada (February 26 – March 1), followed by World Cup 2 in Guadalajara, Mexico (March 5-8), and the World Cup Super Final in Beijing (May 1-3).